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Plainfield Ave. Meijer Construction Updates


tamias6

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As many here on UP along with those who live in the Plainfeild Ave. area may know, the Plainfeild Ave. Meijer store has been serving the surronding communities without fail for many decades. However as good as this store may be, age, wear and tear, along with the changing world of retail are starting to get the better of this old workhorse. Unable to retrofit the latest chainwide store format into the old place, Meijer, Inc. has opted to replace this obsolete store with a brand new state of the art facility to be built elsewhere on the property. On going demolition of the vacated Outlet Store, located on the north end of the property, has signaled the begining of this transition from old to new. It is not very often that Meijer brings such drastic changes to any given store the likes of what is about to unfold. So this thread's purpose is to serve as a log for anyone to add construction and demolition updates for the purpose of creating a hopfully detailed account of the end and new beginning of the Plainfeild Ave. Meijer from start to finish.

I will start things off with a Youtube video clip I created. It shows several shots of the old Plainfield Meijer, its gas station, and on going demolition of the vacated Outlet Store in action.

Enjoy

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Wow, that building to me seemed like it's more plain than what the Alpine meijer is/what it will soon used to be like. It is indeed a lot smaller too. As for the gas station, I think they did talk about remodeling/expanding it too. 192,000 sq ft is going to be a lot smaller than what the Alpine meijer used to be before it's remodeling started. Does anyone happen to know about how big the current plainfield store is?

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I'm currently doing a Sketchup file of the Plainfield Store. The program is able to calculate the square footage of a given surface. After using that feature to calculate the floor space of the old store I come up with 198,000 sq. ft. not including the mezzanine. At 192,000 sq. ft. the new store will not be that much smaller. My prediction is the decrease in size will be due to the lack of a mezzanine as Meijer's latest store format not not have this feature. Secondly the decrease in size will also stem from the fact that new Meijer stores have much smaller and more efficient back rooms than older stores. Conclusion: Because of a smaller back room, reduced number of in-store tenants and better store layout, the sales floor of the new store will be equal in size to if not slightly larger than the sale floor of the old store.

Wow, that building to me seemed like it's more plain than what the Alpine meijer is/what it will soon used to be like. It is indeed a lot smaller too. As for the gas station, I think they did talk about remodeling/expanding it too. 192,000 sq ft is going to be a lot smaller than what the Alpine meijer used to be before it's remodeling started. Does anyone happen to know about how big the current plainfield store is?
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My prediction is the decrease in size will be due to the lack of a mezzanine as Meijer's latest store format not not have this feature. Secondly the decrease in size will also stem from the fact that new Meijer stores have much smaller and more efficient back rooms than older stores. Conclusion: Because of a smaller back room, reduced number of in-store tenants and better store layout, the sales floor of the new store will be equal in size to if not slightly larger than the sale floor of the old store.
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True. Speaking of Site Plans, when I went to the Plainfield store to do my Youtube video clip, I took a quick jaunt inside to see if any renderings were on display. I searched the front promenade but did not find any. If renderings are indeed on display, can somebody tell me where to find them? Also does anybody have any images of site plans and/or preferably renderings? If so please post them if possible. Like what I did for the Alpine Store, I want to do a Sketchup file of what the new Plainfield Store will look like.

This is also relevant to the fact that the site plan has designated three outlots, one of which is clearly designed to perhaps facilitate some of the typical "inside the store" tenants you find in their other stores.
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True. Speaking of Site Plans, when I went to the Plainfield store to do my Youtube video clip, I took a quick jaunt inside to see if any renderings were on display. I searched the front promenade but did not find any. If renderings are indeed on display, can somebody tell me where to find them? Also does anybody have any images of site plans and/or preferably renderings? If so please post them if possible. Like what I did for the Alpine Store, I want to do a Sketchup file of what the new Plainfield Store will look like.
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As many here on UP along with those who live in the Plainfeild Ave. area may know, the Plainfeild Ave. Meijer store has been serving the surronding communities without fail for many decades. However as good as this store may be, age, wear and tear, along with the changing world of retail are starting to get the better of this old workhorse. Unable to retrofit the latest chainwide store format into the old place, Meijer, Inc. has opted to replace this obsolete store with a brand new state of the art facility to be built elsewhere on the property. On going demolition of the vacated Outlet Store, located on the north end of the property, has signaled the begining of this transition from old to new. It is not very often that Meijer brings such drastic changes to any given store the likes of what is about to unfold. So this thread's purpose is to serve as a log for anyone to add construction and demolition updates for the purpose of creating a hopfully detailed account of the end and new beginning of the Plainfeild Ave. Meijer from start to finish.

I will start things off with a Youtube video clip I created. It shows several shots of the old Plainfield Meijer, its gas station, and on going demolition of the vacated Outlet Store in action.

Enjoy

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Wow. The last time I was in GR, 1989 Pistons won. I think that building being demolished was a Levi's outlet at the time. This may be off topic but, what ever happened to North Kent Mall? We picked up a championship T-shirt for my then 13 year old son at some sport shop at the mall.
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It was essentially gutted. The KMart is still on the South end, and the indoor mall portion was demolished and turned into a Lowe's. The Monkey Wards building is still there, but was divided up into a dollar store, Dunham's Sports and a landscaping supply store(?) on the North end.
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Thanks for that info - I pass what I learn on to my mom who left MI for FL in 1989. I miss MI so much, even after 30 years in SC Lowcountry/coastal. I've never been able to get over the fact that you have nothing to do all winter here. Of course, in MI you could spend most of the winter with outdoor sports.

Back to Meijer, if I remember correctly, the (grocery only) store I shopped at was on Fuller near Michigan and really enjoyed the Plainfield store when I could get out there. Wasn't there a GM dealership near the Plainfield store?

I need to get out more! (And, travel.)

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Ah, Kool - that is where my folks purchased their last car in GR.

Oh, that is funny about the parcel at the Mall. I remember well the lady who had her beauty shop in her house and absolutely refused to sell. She was sort of the "laughing stock" but, she did get her way!

Now, all this brings back more memories. I drive-in theater on the other side of Plainfield, out farther than Meijer but I'm not sure as far as the mall. And, some cookie cutter subdivisions right near, these homes having been built in the late sixties/early seventies.

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Ah, Kool - that is where my folks purchased their last car in GR.

Oh, that is funny about the parcel at the Mall. I remember well the lady who had her beauty shop in her house and absolutely refused to sell. She was sort of the "laughing stock" but, she did get her way!

Now, all this brings back more memories. I drive-in theater on the other side of Plainfield, out farther than Meijer but I'm not sure as far as the mall. And, some cookie cutter subdivisions right near, these homes having been built in the late sixties/early seventies.

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Plainfield is actually developed with commercial and residential projects all the way to where it merges with the East Beltline (becomes Northland Drive) and beyond that across the Grand River, and up the hill past Blythefield Country Club. Actually, I don't think the East Beltline has been around more than 20 years (?)
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I guess I meant East Beltline as the big divided boulevard that it is today from I-96 up to Plainfield. :blush: I knew it was longer than 10 years ago.

pr sc, the development is stretching a bit East on Cannonsburg that include a great golf course and a number of new condo developments along there, with Cannonsburg road rebuilt and moved North a couple hundred yards and a new condo development going in on the river side of the road. Dykema Excavators have begun a massive gravel operation at Northland/Cannonsburg that will eventually become a large residential development surrounding a lake (from what I heard a few years ago). It leapfrogs from there and then starts back up again at Northland and Belding Rd, heading East and it's pretty developed around Lake Bella Vista, Belding and Myers Lake Ave, Silver Lake and Bostwick Lake.

Northland Drive is pretty rural until you reach 10 Mile Rd in Rockford, where that intersection is chocked full of commercial development.

Filmmaker, I can't believe that Northtown turned down an offer from Walmart. I was just near that development the other day and what a sad condition it has become.

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Was there a specific reason why they turned down walmart? I am not a fan of Wal Mart but, that plaza would have been a perfect fit for wal mart. That plaza is probly 40% full and its an eyesore i wish something was done with it. As far as the state of Plainfield ave, it seems all the development is moving towards eastbeltline and plainfield hopefully with the remodel of Meijer it will spur some other developments along the corridor.

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Was there a specific reason why they turned down walmart? I am not a fan of Wal Mart but, that plaza would have been a perfect fit for wal mart. That plaza is probly 40% full and its an eyesore i wish something was done with it.
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From what I've seen, there is a Walk-in Medical Care in the Mezzanine like the one that was at the Alpine Meijer, a Bank, a nail salon, and a barber shop (I think), and customer service. I believe there was a sit down restaurant upstairs years ago. But it looked vacant when I was there doing my video shoot.

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